Alux: A Close Encounter of the Third Kind

According to an interview published on May 27th by the news website sipse.com, a man called Martin Segura Soberanis assures that his friend (an American citizen whose name remains anonymous), had a “close encounter” with not one, but two Aluxes! Supernatural beings part of the ancient Mayan myths.

Segura Soberanis currently lives and works in the hotel zone in Cancun, Quintana Roo; but was born in Muna, a small town located in the Central part of the state of Yucatán.

Many myths and legends have lingered with the Yucatecan society for many centuries, as far back as prehispanic times. Without a doubt the legends concerning the “Aluxes” and the many people that “claim” to have seen them or interacted with them is now one of the most common anecdotes among the Yucatecan society.

According to local folklore the mythical beings are made by a Maya priest (Xmen) who literally models them in clay.

Mayan priests gather mud from distant caves in which a woman has never set foot, they put it to rest for 9 nights and then mix it with a potion made of honey and wildflowers to then place the clay for another 9 nights at an altar, making sure the sunlight does not reach it. After the specified time, the Alux is buried in the field between ancient chants and prayers, where he will come to life a couple of days later with the mission to protect the forest and plantation grounds of the Mayan farmers.

Aluxes (Photo: www.reinomaya.com)

This is the story of Martin Segura Soberanis

“I´ve been working in a hotel in Cancun for twenty years now, and five years ago an American tourist from San Antonio, Texas started to come down on vacation every year, we became good friends. Last year when he came to Cancun I was taking some time off in my town, Muna. I invited him and his wife to come with us and do some sightseeing and to try new things, everything was great, they stayed at my mother´s house, we went to Ticul, Santa Elena and Uxmal; and they loved it.

Aluxes carved on wall at Uxmal, Yucatán (Photo: en-yucatan.com.mx)

The Encounter

I took my friend to see a “chile habanero” plantation and after showing him the field, he told me he wanted to explore some more, I was tired so I told him to continue without me and that I would meet him later back in the house. After one hour I began to worry and went out to look for him, I found him 45 minutes later and I could see the fear on his face.

This is what he told me:

“I was walking on the habanero field when suddenly I saw two very small human like beings about 1 foot tall, first I thought they were rag dolls but then they looked at me and took off running! After that, someone started throwing little rocks at me, whomever it was it had no intention of hurting me, but nevertheless had good aim, I slowly started to walk back to the house and a few minutes later, Martin found me.”

Aluxes (Image: Google)

Fortunately nothing happened to my friend but he was looking really shocked for some reason, and he certainly felt uneased for quite a while after the encounter.

When he got back to the U.S. he started to investigate more about the subject and he sent me an email confirming that what he saw were indeed Aluxes.